


Goodnight, My Angel

by jane_x80



Series: Couples Therapy [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 12:44:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5785780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_x80/pseuds/jane_x80
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is raining in DC. Gibbs is not at work and Tony has a date. Takes place not long after <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5711296">Couples Therapy</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodnight, My Angel

**Author's Note:**

> In the Couples Therapy 'verse, so Gibbs and Tony are secretly married. This little one-shot was completely inspired by Billy Joel's [Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcnd55tLCv8) which I found to be so beautiful, and so touching.

Tony DiNozzo sits at his desk in the bullpen and watches as rain falls in thick sheets, running down the big windows, obscuring his view of the Potomac. It has rained all day, and is supposed to continue to. He sighs, and turns to look at Gibbs’ empty desk. The man is not in MTAC, not with Vance, and not anywhere in the Navy Yard.

When Vance asks him where Gibbs is, Tony answers that Gibbs is out following up on a case. When McGee asks him the same question, Tony shrugs and tells him that Gibbs has taken the day off. When Bishop asks him the question, his answer is Gibbs had an errand to run. When Abby asks the question, he hugs her, kisses her, gives her a caf-pow from Gibbs, and says that he will be back tomorrow.

In the meantime, they close a case without Gibbs, Tony doing the interrogation himself, and afterwards, instead of asking Bishop and McGee to finish their reports, Tony dismisses them right on time, telling them they can start on their reports the next day.

“But won’t Gibbs be upset that we didn’t get them done today?” Bishop objects.

Tony gives her a small smile. “He won’t be upset with us,” he says quietly. “Go on home.”

Bishop frowns at him, and Tony can see that she wants to ask him questions. He shakes his head firmly, giving McGee a minute but silent, significant glance, clearly warning her that they are not going to discuss this in front of McGee. Bishop sighs. She really hates that she knows this secret and she cannot share it with anyone. She cannot even discuss it with Tony as he refuses to talk about it.

“But Gibbs always makes us finish our reports before we leave, Tony,” McGee says, frowning.

“Gibbs isn’t here,” Tony says, looking at his watch. “I am. Although I’m leaving now. I will write my reports tomorrow. If you guys want to stay, feel free. But I have a date, and I’m leaving.”

“Tony!” McGee takes his arm. “You can’t blow off these reports to go on a date! Are you going to tell Gibbs that that’s the reason your reports aren’t done?”

“I’ll deal with the Boss my way, McGee. Now I really do have to go. This rain is fucking depressing me, and I need to go cheer up. This date will be just what the doctor ordered.”

Tony turns his computer off, puts his raincoat on, grabs his umbrella and backpack, straps on his gun and badge, and waving the umbrella to his teammates, he walks to the elevator. “G’night Probies!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On his third round around, the groundskeeper notices that the man has been standing in the same spot, seemingly unaffected by the pouring rain. He is drenched, but makes no attempt to shield himself from the downpour.

When the groundskeeper finds the man still standing there hours later, he brings him coffee in a covered to-go cup. The man nods and thanks him quietly, blue eyes sad, silver hair plastered to his head. The groundskeeper looks at what the man is staring at, and he nods sadly. He places a hand on the blue-eyed man’s shoulder for one long moment before he moves away, leaving the grieving man in peace.

For the rest of the day the groundskeeper comes by every so often with a fresh cup of coffee. The blue-eyed man accepts gratefully each time, but neither man says a word to each other.

Finally, it is time for the groundskeeper to go home. Before he leaves, he decides to check to see if the blue-eyed man is still there. As he nears the section where the blue-eyed man had been standing, he sees a large, black umbrella heading in the same direction. Taking cover beneath a tree, not far from the blue-eyed man, close enough to lend a hand if need be – the groundskeeper feels oddly protective of the quiet, blue-eyed man – he watches as another man approaches the blue-eyed man. This man is good-looking and dressed to the nines, a raincoat belted over what looks to be an expensive suit. The groundskeeper has seen enough suits to know quality when he sees it. The man’s very expensive shoes are wet and muddy, but he seems completely oblivious to it. He carefully picks his way around the markers and headstones, finally getting to the blue-eyed man.

The groundskeeper watches as the good-looking man puts the umbrella over the blue-eyed man, belatedly shielding him from the rain, and hands him a large cup of coffee. Unmindful of the other man’s sopping wet clothes, the good-looking man puts his arm around the wet shoulders and gently pulls the other man’s head onto his broad shoulders. Surprisingly, the blue-eyed man leans into the embrace, closing his eyes and sighing.

“Ready to go home?” the newcomer says, ever so gently.

The blue-eyed man nods silently. Together they walk closer to the headstone.

“Happy birthday Kelly,” says the newcomer, kissing his hand and carefully placing it on the headstone.

The blue-eyed man stands quietly for a moment. “Goodnight, my angel,” he finally says. “Happy birthday, sweetheart. I love you.”

The men stop at the next headstone and the good-looking man pulls out a small, slightly squashed bouquet of flowers from inside his raincoat. He hands it to the blue-eyed man who smiles gratefully at him before he places the flowers on the grave.

“Bye, Shannon,” he says quietly. “Miss you.”

Then he places his hand in the good-looking man’s, and together they walk away. The good-looking man ensures that the umbrella shields the blue-eyed man as they walk, uncaring as the rain begins to soak his own short brown hair and run down his face and clothes. The groundskeeper waits until he can no longer see the black umbrella bobbing amongst the headstones before he turns around and goes home.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tony helps Gibbs into the car, hands him a second cup of coffee (waiting for him in the cupholder in the car) before he drives them home. Once home, he ushers Gibbs straight into the shower. He turns the water on to heat up, strips the older man of his wet clothes, throwing them into an empty laundry basket, and helps him into the shower. He strips his own clothes off, throwing them into the same basket, uncaring that he is mixing his dry cleaning with his regular clothes, something he would never normally do, and that there are little patches of wetness on the floor. He will take care of that later. He joins Gibbs in the shower and proceeds to scrub him clean, warming the older man by rubbing his hands on him, and soothing him with his touch. After he shampoos and rinses the older man’s hair, he turns the water off and dries him, rubbing him vigorously with a towel. He helps him into boxers, sweatpants and his favorite USMC hoodie. Then he dries himself and puts on sweatpants and an NCIS t-shirt.

They go downstairs, and for dinner Tony pulls out pints of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. He makes sundaes with perfectly round scoops of ice cream, sprinkles, chocolate sauce, shaved chocolate, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries, the way Kelly used to like her sundaes. He pours shots of bourbon into two mugs and hands one to Gibbs. Together, the two men eat the ice cream sundaes and drink the bourbon, Tony chattering away about the case they closed that day. After they are done eating, Tony puts their mugs and bowls in the sink, and runs water on them. Then he takes Gibbs’ hand and pulls him back upstairs. They brush their teeth, shed their clothes, and crawl into bed.

Instead of Tony plastering himself onto Gibbs the way he usually does, he lies on his back and pulls Gibbs into his arms and pulls the blankets securely around them. The older man curls himself into Tony’s body while he rubs his back, long soothing strokes, kissing the top of the silver head, whispering words of love softly, until Gibbs finally falls asleep.

Despite the fact that there are dirty dishes in the sink, laundry unsorted, and wet pools waiting to be mopped up, Tony stays in bed and holds Gibbs, staying awake long into the night, soothing the older man whenever he becomes unsettled, being the sentinel, chasing away the older man’s nightmares before they can even begin, at least for this one night.


End file.
